


A Shoulder to Lean On

by Metal_Gear_Steve



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22451785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Gear_Steve/pseuds/Metal_Gear_Steve
Summary: Tails gets an unsigned letter in the mail asking him to meet at a cafe in Spagonia. He goes, only to be confronted by Dr. Eggman! But he's not his usual cackling, evil self. Tails has to find out the meaning behind this meeting.the description reads like a potential ship fic, but Tails is baby and Eggman is a jerk. this is a huge notp for me. this fanfiction is platonic as fuck.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	A Shoulder to Lean On

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by a very neat piece of recent Sonic lore. I wrote it in 2 and a half hours, and I have to get up for work in 5 hours.
> 
> I mention a bunch of Unleashed and Lost World stuff that I don't remember too well, so I'm sorry if I get any canon details wrong.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

Tails shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unintentionally crumpling the letter in his hand. He had received it a few days ago instructing him to go to a cafe in Spagonia - no return address, no name attached.

Maybe he shouldn't have acted on it after all. It was the thought of seeing Professor Pickle again that tipped the scales in Spagonia's favor, but if he had known the circumstances behind the meeting would end up being this bad, he would have torn the letter up and refused to go.

Sitting across from Tails was a rotund man with an unmistakably bushy moustache. Granted, he was disguised in a baggy khaki trenchcoat and a low-brimmed hat - not very convincingly, but well enough to evade the attention of the other patrons. But from Tails' point of view, there was no mistaking it.

The mysterious letter had been sent out by none other than Dr. Ivo Robotnik - colloquially known as Eggman.

Tails had already ordered, and he glared icily at Eggman as he called over a server to take his order. With that out of the way, Eggman folded his hands together on the table.

"So, err... Tails! How are things?"

Tails was dumbfounded. There was no fake charisma oozing from his flamboyant nemesis - his tone of voice was unusually subdued.

"...Things are good." Tails stared defensively as he spoke.

Eggman cleared his throat a little and looked down.

"I see my letter's instructions were clear enough to follow?"

Tails shook his head in disbelief. _What the heck is going on?!_

"Eggman," Tails said in a low, icy tone of voice, "what are you up to? Why would you send me this letter unless you were up to no good?"

Eggman raised his eyebrows and put his hands up. "No, no! Please hear me out!"

It might have just been the awkwardness of the social situation he was trapped in, but Tails nodded reluctantly. Eggman cleared his throat again, this time with a throatier sound.

"This situation is strange for me too, just so you know. If I was trying to catch that blasted hedgehog, I could have lured him out with a letter."

"Sonic encouraged me to tear it up, actually. I came to Spagonia to see another friend of mine, who I met when your Dark Gaia scheme split Mobius apart."

Tails' comment drew concern from the table next to him. The couple sitting there glanced at Eggman, before returning to their food relatively unfazed. He breathed a sigh of relief - and admittedly, so did Tails.

"Yes, that was me. So was the planet-sized theme park, and the Fatal Five," Eggman exclaimed in a hushed tone. "That letter doesn't concern any of it."

"Then what are you trying to do?" Tails shot back. "Luring me to a cafe like this, meeting me alone. What's the big idea? It wouldn't be the first time you tried to trap me for one of your schemes."

"Well, uhh..." Eggman pushed up his spectacles as he spoke. "To be honest, I just wanted to speak with... a friend."

Tails glared at Eggman upon hearing that.

_A friend?!_

"Eggman, I've fought against your selfish, evil plans for years, and I've beaten you with Sonic every single time," Tails exasperatedly whispered. "I've fought against everything you've ever stood for - I don't even like you. Do you even know what my real name is?"

Eggman stammered in surprise. He had written "Tails" on the letter - somehow, it had still gotten to the right pair of hands, but he thought that was Tails' name.

"...This is a trick question, right? Because I've always called y--"

"It's Miles," Tails said bluntly. "My name is Miles."

"...Oh." Eggman seemed to deflate a little bit as the information sunk in.

Tails shook his head. "After all the fighting, how could you possibly consider me your friend?"

"Well, the thing is..." Eggman averted his gaze. "I don't really have any other friends."

Tails considered laughing in Eggman's face - but he could tell from his posture and his tone of voice that he was being serious. Even with all the strife Eggman had caused, Tails wasn't that callous.

"...Seriously, Eggman? No friends? Not even those two little robots you carry around with you?"

"Well.. they spend most of their time insulting me, to be honest. And they're more like furniture than people to me."

Tails let out the smallest of laughs. "Really mean furniture!"

Eggman smiled. "Exactly!"

The brief moment of mirth died as quickly as it came, as Tails looked away with a forced scrowl. The server soon returned with their orders - an ice-cold fruit juice for Tails, and a pretty sizeable stack of grilled sandwiches for Eggman.

After taking a quick bite of his meal, Eggman resumed talking.

"I guess 'friend' is a bit strong of a word for us. How about 'equals'?"

"I wouldn't say we're equal," Tails responded as he put down his juice. "In smarts, maybe, but my friends are my equals. You're just a jerk."

"You're killing me here, Tails," Eggman said with a dry, mirthless grin. "I promise - no tricks, no traps, no schemes. I just want to talk."

 _This is already a bad idea,_ Tails thought to himself. _Eggman always claims to have turned over a new leaf before he tries to get the upper hand. I should have left as soon as I realised it was Eggman - why am I still here?_

When he thought about it, Eggman's mood just struck Tails as being surprisingly genuine. At the behest of his better judgement, Tails decided to talk.

"Well... what's on your mind?"

Eggman tensed up upon hearing this. Tails, giving him a chance? On any other day of the week, he would have thrown Tails into the biggest trap he had on hand, rubbing his hands with glee the whole time.

But against all odds, at that moment, Eggman had a genuine need for a friend. And no amount of petty victory was worth getting in the way of that.

"...This is going to be embarrassing," Eggman exclaimed, "so I'll just say what's wrong."

Tails listened intently, before Eggman took a tentative bite out of one of his sandwiches. Pushing the plate away, he spoke:

"I'm just not really up to my old tricks today. I... I miss my wife, Tails. My wife left me, and I've been depressed ever since."

Tails' eyes widened. "You have a wife?!"

"HAD one," Eggman exclaimed as he gestured for Tails to quiet down. "She left me a couple of weeks ago."

Tails had been in a lot of situations that called for shock - especially ones orchestrated by Eggman. But nothing could have ever prepared him for this news. Eggman, married?! For how long?! To who?!

He babbled as many questions out of his mouth as possible, which required an extra hushing from Eggman.

"Her name's Evelyn Robotnik, or Evie for short," Eggman said as he chewed through the last of his first sandwich. Quickly, though, he corrected himself: "well, Campbell now. Not Robotnik."

He moved onto the second sandwich on his plate.

"We met around the time I awakened Chaos. I realised I was putting myself in too much danger enacting my schemes alone, and I wanted to provide a life for my family. I thought that awakenjng big, evil monsters to do my bidding would be safer in the long run."

Every new sentence sent Tails reeling. He took a big sip of juice before asking more questions.

"Why did you break up?"

"Well..." Eggman let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "She got sick of the negative press. I did my best to keep her out of things, but the more I appeared on the news, the worse she felt about our relationship."

Eggman wiped his moustache after getting egg yolk in it. Glancing at Tails' dumbfounded, enraptured face, he pressed on.

"Do you want to know why I wanted to build Eggmanland so many times, Tails? It's because I wanted to make something to be proud of, to share with a family one day."

"But you caused untold amounts of ecological damage building two self-titled theme parks," Tails countered, "including capturing an entire planet of alien beings and enslaving them so you could build an interstellar rollercoaster."

"I'll admit, I haven't been the most ethical scientist," Eggman said as he finished his last sandwich. "That's probably why my wife left me in the first place. But everything I did was to provide for a family one day."

Tails shook his head.

"Eggmanland on Mobius was filled with lava! If Sonic didn't have his scary wolf powers, he could have fallen in! What was so family-friendly about that place?"

"That was...!" Eggman stopped himself from shouting, before continuing. "That lava was to aid the construction process. It would have been removed before the official opening."

"Well, what about all the world-threatening monsters?" Tails retorted. "Your Biolizard nearly destroyed Mobius, and we thought it killed Shadow! Chaos destroyed Station Square's infrastructure, and he could have done worse! Dark Gaia split Mobius into seven pieces! You held the planet hostage with a planetary death ray!!"

"I'll admit, at some point I lost my way," Eggman responded. "But everything was to give Evie the life she deserved. Everything kept going wrong, and now she's divorcing me."

the pair sat in frustrated silence. Cafe patrons around them went about their meals nervously - there was no doubt as to Dr. Robotnik's identity any more, and nobody wanted to run in fear of his retaliation.

Eggman piped up. "Look, Tails - I've done bad things in the past, and I can't promise that I won't do bad things in the future."

"You can say that again," Tails fumed. Eggman took a deep sigh again, and he let the tension out of his shoulders.

"But... I really needed to talk this out with someone. I know this was strange, Tails. But I wanted to thank you for listening to what I had to say. I really, honestly appreciate it."

The flamboyant jubilance of his usual enemy was still gone, replaced by a tone that could be described as convincing, even on a bad day. Even if tomorrow saw them fighting against the other's interests, Tails would be lying if he didn't say that his talk with Eggman hadn't been cordial and eye-opening.

Eggman paid the bill - another big surprise for Tails - and the pair left the cafe together. They stood apart, ready to go in different directions.

Eggman stretched out his hand to shake, which Tails refused.

"I'm not touching you. This entire meeting could have been to get my defenses down for a dirty trick, and I'm not taking any chances."

Eggman shrugged. "That's pretty fair."

The two shared an awkward silence. Tails considered running off in the opposite direction at full speed, convinced that Eggman would strike at any moment. Eggman was considering a similar sprint in the opposite direction .

In the end, it was Tails who broke the silence.

"I still don't like you, Eggman. You really need to find better friends if you're desperate enough to seek out one of your enemies for a heart-to-heart chat."

Eggman smirked.

"Well, if I ever want to get up to no good, all I have to do is send a few letters to your friends! Do they all come running into uncertain situations like you do?"

Tails sent an offended glare back at Eggman. "You know I'll be checking the Tornado II for trackers, right? I'm the primary mechanic for a reason, you know - I'll know if you've done anything to my plane!"

"Well, I'll be tightening my base's defenses when I get home," Eggman shot back, "so your rodent friend Sonic doesn't get in the way of my next plan!"

Ultimately, the words held little weight from either of them. Despite being adversaries, both Tails and Eggman understood the bizarre, once-in-a-lifetime nature of their discussion. Nothing had changed in the long run - but for the briefest of seconds, Eggman and Tails were on the same page. The brief truce that stemmed from that lasted until both of them returned home safely.

Tails, true to his word, checked the Tornado II for bugs before flying out. The whole cafe experience had drained him so much that he couldn't consider going to see Professor Pickle. And Eggman flew home to his robotic assistants for another night of snarky tomfoolery.

The pair would fight again, that much was certain. Neither Eggman or Tails expected any different, and neither of them would pull punches. But for a split second in the timeline of the universe, Tails' friendly nature was able to do some good for a man in need. Tails could at least take pride in being able to help in the way that he could, and Dr. Robotnik was able to sleep that much easier at night.

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, this story was an attempt to make a serious emotional story out of the Sonic Adventure 2 fandub where Eggman misses his wife.


End file.
